Your Father's Daughter
by wolfpawn
Summary: Imagine Loki and his wife deciding to raise Thor and Sif's daughter as their own, after Thor and Sif are killed in battle and Loki assumes the throne. They raise her alongside their own daughter, and vow to tell her the truth about her parentage when she is old enough to understand.


Ragnarok, it was foretold; that Loki would cause the cataclysmic end that would effectively put an end to life on Asgard. Even the mortals of Midgard had heard of it with the Vikings, a race long gone, but whose scripts and symbols remained, warning all their realm of the Æsir apocalypse. But it never came to be that Loki actively sought to destroy the realm eternal, misdeeds held no allure for him anymore. He had gained good grace in Asgard once more when Thor became king, the older brother remembering Loki's good deeds that finally outweighed his wrong doings, and so he was residing in the golden palace he was reared in, happily married and father to a beautiful daughter. He had everything he could ever wish for; he yearned for nothing else, except for his beloved wife to tell him they would have another child, but he knew that would come with good time.

In a way, Ragnarok had been Loki's doing. The ultimate battle simply because he would not get involved in a petty one. His biological brothers by Laufey, Helblindi and Býleistr were both his junior, and both craved their father's throne. As Loki rejected his Jötunn form; the two could not decide who should rule. Both approached Loki, and both were given similar responses, he wanted nothing to do with them or their petty quarrel over a wasteland of ice. So the two brothers battled, ruthlessly and destructively. Their actions causing great anger among the leaders of the different realms, who sought the Æsir king and Allfather to deal with the unrest.

Thor, now married to Sif and himself a father to a little girl; had sought diplomacy between the brothers, but what he did not realise was that both brothers had influential and powerful allies from different realms backing them for the kingship of Jötunheim. When it became clear that no amount of negotiations would stave further bloodshed, those with vested interests revealed themselves, meaning at the Nine Realms were well and truly at war. On one side, Helblindi, the second brother, who wished to storm Asgard by force and steal the Casket of Ancient Winters, was backed by Nilfheim, Niðavellir and Muspelheim; and on the other, Býleistr, who wished to do business and trade with Asgard in hopes of someday being given the Casket back willingly when he had shown his realm worthy again. He was backed by Alfheim, Vanaheim, and in the end, Asgard. Svartálfheim and Midgard had not been involved in the rift however, as the former now lay as a barren uninhabited wasteland, and Midgard had neither the ability nor means to get involved.

So with the battle lines drawn, the war began; it was ferocious, one side as violent as the other, both thirsting for victory, and in the end, millions lay slain, but Býleistr and his allies were the victors, but not without severe losses on both sides, most notably, the Allfather and his warrior wife. Thor's demise only really happened because he was beside himself in grief when Sif had been speared by Helblindi himself, killing her painfully, he ran to her and held her as she died, but it left him open to the same fate.

Loki had seen it all in slow motion, he watched as his brother and king was pierced by not one, both dozens of swords of ice and steel, he watched as Thor's eyes grew wide with agony for a moment before they closed for the final time. He screamed in fury, slaughtering everything that was within his reach, such was his anguish. He used his seidr to protect their bodies, determined to bring them home, to let them have a last farewell. After the death of Thor, Loki cared for one thing only, to end the battle, and if that meant having to massacre all that stood between him and that goal, then so be it.

Loki stood on the shoreline, boats all along it carrying the dead, over twenty deep such were the losses, they had won, but it did not feel like it. With a small nod of his head, Thor and Sif's boat was launched first, followed by the rest. The flaming arrows came soon after, and Loki watched as the brother he had finally come to accept and who accepted him began to burn, before he ascended to Valhalla. The only grace Loki could think of was that when he arrived there, their mother would be waiting, and he would have beloved Sif by his side. They grew together, trained together, fought together, loved together, now they had ascended the final land together, it was as it always had been with them.

Loki closed his eyes for a moment, willing his emotions to remain within him and not overflow. His wife stood by his side, holding his hand, his raven haired daughter curled up un his other arm, his little blonde haired niece in his wife's arm, now an orphan and barely yet a toddler, looking innocently at the bright lights going up into the sky with great interest, not realising what those lights meant for her and the way they now moulded her life.

"She will be raised with Emilia." Loki declared when they returned to their chambers, the young girl now asleep in her aunt's arms.

"Of course."

"No Astrid, she will be reared as part of this family."

"I see." The woman took a moment to think about it. "Is this not complicating things my love? Your own upbringing…"

"We will not hide it from her, she is Thor and Sif's daughter, not ours, but we will love her as such. We can show her that she still has a family, and when the time is right, we will tell her, ourselves, no cloaks and daggers, all honesty, that is where Odin and Frigga failed me, we will not repeat the mistakes of the past. But until then, we will love her and treat her as our own."

Astrid stroked the small child's hair. "She needs to be loved and cared for." She agreed.

"I can think of no better woman for the job."

"I am frightened, what if I fail her? Fail Sif?"

"No woman knew Sif as you did; you know how Sif wished her to be reared. Honour Sif and do as she would have wanted done." He caressed a finger down her face lovingly. "You will not fail her." He smiled. Astrid only nodded in return.

Loki was crowned king and the years passed. He spent much of his time repairing the damage from the war; men were somewhat in short supply but Asgard, as with other realms continued valiantly. He and Astrid were not blessed with another child but they had Emilia and Tora, and they loved both in equal measure. The girls were close in age, Emilia being slightly older, but they were as close as siblings could be, and warred as only siblings could too.

Now both nearing the age to consider suitors, they often argued of petty things; such as which of them was the true one of interest for Tyr's son, Cenric, who often came to court with his father, and being just marginally older than them, flirted shamelessly with both. But it was a comment that he made to them one day that had piqued their interest, he made a comment regarding the one who had the crown would surely be the more desired girl. This made no sense to the girls, as they both assumed as Emilia was the senior, it would be hers. Rather than guess and assume any more, they went to their parents. As soon as they questioned them, Loki and Astrid looked at one another and Loki gave a small nod. Astrid cleared the room of all bar the family as Loki instructed the girls to sit.

"We need to tell you something, something that alters your lives slightly, especially yours Tora." Loki began; the girl looked at him fearfully. "Do you know whom you are named after?"

"Thor, your brother, he died in the great war, Ragnarok." She answered with pride in her voice, she had read of her uncle, he was fierce in battle and feared by all foes.

"Yes. He died when you had not yet learnt to walk." Loki swallowed hard as his voice almost broke at the memory of Tora taking a few steps across his reading room floor to try and reach him. "Norns did he adore you."

Emilia looked to her father and mother, feeling somewhat rejected as to why her uncle would adore her sister and not her also. "He adored you too darling, just in a different manner." Her mother soothed.

"Tora, I do not know exactly how to say this to you, I have thought of this moment for nearly seven hundred years, thinking of what to say, but I cannot think of the best way to word it" Loki sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Just say it." She pleaded.

"Thor and Sif are your parents, when they died in Ragnarok…we wanted you to have a family, we wanted you to belong." He explained haphazardly.

Both girls were silently staring. Emilia cried, Tora could hardly breathe. "Sif and Thor loved you so much, God's they did, but they had a duty they had to fulfil." Astrid was weeping openly, thinking of her loved ones and their daughter in front of her.

"So when people say both Tora and I can contest the throne, what they mean is she is the rightful heir, but I am older and the current kings daughter." Emilia explained. Her parents nodded. Taking a moment to bite her lips together she swallowed before she continued to talk.

"I assume it gives them some form of perverse entertainment to say such things to you both. We taught you both equally because we knew the day would come to tell Tora. We did not want to hide it from you, but as a child, it can make you feel different." He looked at the blonde haired girl in front of him.

"I…I need to…" Tora looked around frantically.

"You need to process it." Loki put words to her thoughts, Tora nodded. "That is only fair. Go to wherever you feel is your favourite place, I will ensure none disturb you, take all the time you need." He walked over and kissed her forehead. "When the time comes that you wish to talk, we are here. We love you Tora, we always have. We just wanted you to feel loved."

Tora leant into the kiss on her forehead, before she looked to Astrid, and then to Emilia. She gave a sad smile and a nod before she turned to the door, none stopping her as she went.

A few hours later, one of the Einharjar interrupted Loki in his study informing him that his daughter was next to the training grounds, and was requesting he joined her. Loki silently gave a nod and rose from his desk, and made his way to her. When he got there he watched silently for a few moments as she watched the warrior's train. She herself had excelled in her training, like her mother she was gifted with the double ended sword, but that never surprised him, or indeed her trainer, Volstagg. The girl held a special place in the older man's heart, the result of two of his greatest friends love for one another, she was their daughter in every manner, and even after everything that occurred with Loki, the older man had to give him due credit, he had done as he had swore and raised her as Thor and Sif would have wanted her to be.

"So this is your place of solitude?" He asked curiously as he walked up beside her.

"Yes, is it odd, to find comfort in a place filled with grunts, the clangs of metal, the stench of sweat and filled with people?" She looked up at him, her cerulean blue eyes seeking an answer in his.

"No, it is not."

"Used they…"

"It was noteworthy if they were not here." Loki smiled sadly.

"Why did you not just tell me as a child, why hide it from me?"

"We never wanted to hide it from you, but we knew you were too young at the time."

"Now I am to deal with this, with no one who can ever understand."

"I understand how you feel Tora." She scoffed. "I am going to tell you something, something that even Emilia does not know." She looked around to him. "I am not an Odinson by birth." He admitted, Tora's eyes widened. "I was, or should say am, the son of Laufey of Jötunheim. He cast me out on a rock to perish for being a runt, Odin took pity on me and brought me back to Asgard where I was raised as Thor's brother. But unlike with us, and you, Odin had no plans to reveal my true identity, and when I found out what I truly was, and that was not a manner which someone should find out such a thing, I was angry, I did some terrible things, hurt so many innocent people."

The tears finally fell from Tora's eyes. "I don't remember them."

"You couldn't, you were so small." Loki considered placing his arm around her.

"Did they love me?"

"Norn's what would make you say that Tora, of course they did. Thor almost ended up causing Asgard to go bankrupt such was the celebrations at your birth."

"Then why did they go? Why did they fight? That was not Asgard's fight to begin with." She challenged.

"Because he was the Allfather, and your mother, a warrior. It was their duty. They did not want to; I recall how your father fought with himself to leave as he held you in his arms one last time. In that moment, if he could have been any other being in the realms, he would have. Leaving you, that almost killed him."

"So what did?" she looked to Loki.

"I saw it happen, your mother fell first, if there was ever even going to be one to come close to you in your father's eyes, it was her. He became distraught at her death and that is when they took him down." Loki had to take a deep breathe before he could breathe again. "I do not recall anything that happened after that for some time. According to Hogun and Volstagg, I went into a rage that caused the death of anything near me. I would believe them, as to this day I still cannot rest easy for what happened."

"I miss them more in the past day than I ever did growing up." Tora wept.

"Oh course you do darling."

"They were my parents."

"Are, they are your parents, death did not take their title from them." Loki soothed.

"But what are you and mother to me now. I mean Astrid." The word felt wrong on her tongue. Astrid had raised her with a mothers love, and Loki had made her feel as though she was worth the sun, moon and stars.

"We are what we always were."

"But to call you father, when he…Gods I am so confused."

"I know." Loki finally took the final step and embraced her, immediately Tora curled into his arms as she used do as a child. "It is alright sweetheart, we are here, we are here for you."

"So that's why Odin said that of you and him." Tora's voice was emotionless. Loki looked down at her confused. "That you were both supposed to rule."

"Yes, as the oldest son of Laufey, I was to be the king of Jötunheim."

"Is that what it is to be like for Emilia and I? Are we to war?"

"I hope not." Loki tried not to let such a though fester, but over the years it had. "I can only hope that when it is time for me to step down, there is some way to avoid it."

"I don't want to be without her."

"Nor would she want to be without you."

"Thank you."

"Whatever for?"

"For taking me in."

Loki pulled Tora from the hug to look her in the eye. "To me Tora, there was never an alternative. We love you, we are family, we wanted to look after you as we know Thor and Sif would have Emilia were it the other way around. . You are so like them you know. You really are your father's daughter."

"Really?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes, just as stubborn as him anyway." Loki half joked. "I find I miss him more than I should these days, because I am reminded of him each day with you."

"I think they would have liked the job you did."

"I hope they would have, you are an amazing girl, and you will be a terrifying woman with your fighting skills."

"I kick ass."

"Language."

"Sorry father." She looked up to see what his reaction would be to her calling her that name still.

Loki smiled down at her taking her in again. "I'll let it slide this once."


End file.
